Gang edger



w. B. GRUETI'ER March 12, 1929.

GANG EDGER Filed Sept. 11, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet I N V EN TOR. E W/u mm 5.6171/: 775/? A TTORNEYS.

March 12, 1929.

w. B. GRUETER GANG EDGER Filed Sept. 11, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet NENTOR.

IWLLMM B. Gnu/5 TE? A TTORNEYS.

Patented Mar. 12, 1929.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM B. GRUETEB, or IanNoMI'nni-i, MICHIGAN, AssIeNon To THE PRESCOTTCOM- PANY, OF MEHOMINEE, MICHIGAN, A ooRr'onnTIon or MICHIGAN.

GANG Enema.

Application filed September 11, 1925. Serial No. 55,672.-

This invention relates to gang edger-s, and more particularly to theconstruction of the saw-shifting members therefor.

A gang edger comprises, in general, a number of circular saws splined onan arbor for rotation therewith and sliding movement along the same tovarious positions depending upon the width to which the lumber is to becut, a member slidably mounted on rods or guiding elements parallel tothe arbor, each member being provided with a bracket which embraces theedge of the saw and holds lign'um vitm lugs which engage the saw ateither side thereof whereby the latter may be shifted along the arborupon movement of the saw-shifting member, and

live rolls arranged to feed the lumberthrough the saws. The saw shiftingmembers of some edgers are moved back and forth to the desired positionsby power,- while in other edgers the saw-shifting members are manuallyoperated.- In the latter type of edger, the saw-shifting members areoften moved with considerable diiiiculty due to binding action of thelatter on the guiding elements or rods therefor caused by slight tiltingmovement of the saw-shifting member when the saw offers any great amountof resistance to its being shifted along the arbor. Some types ofsaw-shifting members have been constructed with a view toward makingthem so rigid that there will be no tilting movement thereof withrespect to the guiding elements or rods and consequently no bindingaction on the latter. These saw-shifting members constructed heretofore,however, have not entirely eliminated this trouble for the reason thatthey have not'sufii-cient rigidity to entirely eliminate tilting orrotary movement with respect to the guiding elements, it requ' only avery slight tilting movement of the 'iember to cause binding thereof onthe guiding elements. One of the objects of the present invention,therefore, is to provide an improved saw-shifting member of thecharacter referred to which has suflicient rigidity to eliminate alltendency of the same to tilt and bind upon the guiding rods or ele rentstherefor.

i her object is to provide improved saw-shifting members of thecharacter referred to which interfit or nest together to permit movementof the saws close together which are simple in construction, durable,and which may be castin one piece.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear;

For the purpose of illustrating the invention an embodiment thereof isshown in the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a transverse, sectional viewthrough an edger; p

F 2 is a fragmentary view, looking toward the left in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the improved saw-shifting member; 7 V

Fig. 4 is a plan View of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation, looking toward the left in Fig. 1; V

6 is a fragmentary View of a modified rm; a

7 is a section on line 77 of Fig. 6.

The saw-shifting member 1 comprises, in

guiding element 8 arranged below and in parallel relation to red- 5, therods or guiding elements 5 and 8 being parallel to the usual arbor (notshown) upon which the saw 9 is splined for rotation therewith andsliding movement along the same. A bracket lOlits over the edge of saw9, as more clearly shown in Fig. l, and is pivotally connected by meansof a bolt 11 to a lug 12 which may be formed or cast integrally withmember 1, lignum vitae lugs 13 being held in position by-bracket 10 toengage either side of the saw whereby the latter is shifted along thearbor upon sliding movement of the sawshifting member along the rods 01'guiding elements 5 and 8. I 1

The means for holding member 1 and saw 9 in adjusted position may comarise a man ually operable lever 14 pivotally connected at to bodyportion 2 of member 1 and having its free end 16 arranged to actuate asuitable latch 17 loosely mounted. for vertical movement in body portion2, the upper end of the latch being provided with teeth adapted toengage a toothed rack 18 secured to the underside of the cross member19. \Vhen lever 14: is in the position thereof shown in Fig. 1, latch 17is in interlocking engagement with rack 18 and the saw-shitting member 1locked against sliding movement along rods 5 and 8, lever 14 being heldin this position by any suitable means such as a member '20 pivotzllyconnected at 21 to body portion 2 and having its upper end 22 formed tolit over a roller 23 carried by lever 14, member being held in the position shown by means ot aspring 2 1 arranged upon a bolt 25 whichextends loosely throughlcvcr 20 and pivotally connected at 26 to bodyportion 2. lVhen the sawyer desires to change the position of saw 9along the arbor, he raises lever l t to move latch 17 downward out ofinterlocking engagement ith rack 18, during which movement of lever 14roller 23 forces the upper end 22 of" member 20 to the right andcompresses spring 24:, and then slides member 1 along rods 5 and 8 tothe desired position. ll hen the saw has been adjusted, lever 1% isreturned to the position thereof shown in 1, at which time the upper end22 of member 20 snaps over roller 23 under the act-ion of spring 2 1 andhmds latch 17 in interlocking engagement with The means just describedfor holding saw 9 and the saw-shitting member 1 in adjusted positionforms no part of the present invention and has only been shown anddescribed for the purpose of showing one way of locking the improvedsaw-shitting member in adjusted position, but of course any othersuitable means may be employed for this purpose.

The ends 27 of arms 3 and the ends 28 ot arms 6 are secured to oppositesides of body portion 2 ot member 1 at equal dis tances on either sideof rods and 8 whereby the arms 3 and (5 term a. parallelogram ortour-sided trainc rigidly securedlo body portion 2 oil the saw-shittingmember, as shown in l l, the collars l and 7 at opposite corne. of theparallelogram bei offset in one direction with respect to ca a other. asshown in Figs. 2 and 5, to receive rods 5 and 8. The tour-sided frameformed by arms 3 and 6 holds body portion 2 oi saw-shitting member 1 inposition at right'angles to or transverse to rods 5 and 8 and provides arigid structure which entirely eliminates any tilting or rotary movementof body portion 2 in a horizontal plane with respect to rods 5 and 8,thus preventing any possible binding action of colrack 18.

lars l and 7 upon the rods when saw 9 otl'ers resistance againstmovement along the arbor therefor.

The saw-shitting member 29 for saw 30 is identical in construction tothe member 1 for saw 9 eescribed above, and is provided on one sidethereoi with outwardly converging arms 31 which extend through bodyportion 2 of member 1 and nest with arms 3 of the latter upon movementof members 29 and 1 close together, as shown in Fig. 4, the outer endsof arms 81 being :torme d to provide a collar 32 which receives and fitsloosely about rod 5. As shown in Fig. 4;, the outwardly converging arms33 or member 29 also nest with arms 6 of member 1 and have their outerends formed to provide a. collar 3% which receives and fits looselyabout rod 8.

From the foregoing it will be seen that an improved saw-shitting memberfor cdujers has been provided which is rigidly constructed and whichwill not bind upon the rods or guiding elements '5 and 8 therefor whenany great resistance is offered by saw 9 againstmovement along thearbor, and that an improved saw-shifting member has been provided whichis simple in construction and which permits movement of the saws closetogether.

The saw-shitting members 1 and 29 may be provided with the usualpointers 35 aranged to move over a graduated scale 36 to indicate to theSawyer the position of the saws upon the arbor. The lumber is carriedthrough the saw by means of the usual live rolls 37.

Although the construction of the improved saw-shifting member justdescribed represents a preferred embodiment ot the invention, of coursevarious changes may be made without r'lcgarting from the spirit of theinvention or the scope'o't the claims. For instance, one of the arms 3or (3 may be eliminated, the necessary rigidity of member 1 beingobtained by the bracing action of either of the pair of arms 3 and (l,in which case there will be one pair of outwardly converging armsextending ti-om one side oil bodyportion 2 of the saw-shittmen'iber andonly one arm extending outwardly from the other side of body portion VAs shown in 6 and 7. the collar l is termed or cast integrally in bodyportion 2 of member 1., while the outwarriliy converging arms 6 areidentical to arms 6 described above and provide the collar 7 whichreceives and loosely fits the guidii element or red 8, collar l rceiving and.

looely fitting about the guiding element or rod 5, shown. In themodified form shown in Figs. 6 and 7', therefore, one pair of theoutwardly converging arms in Figs.

all)

moaeve l to is omitted, the collar formed by the cult? ends of thesearms bc g. termed in tree of theslnltingmember. Although the distancebetween collars and 7' along rods 5 and 8 would be onedmlt that betweencollars l and 7 in 1 to 5., the dis tance between collars and 7 issuni-cient to prevent any tilting or rotary movement of body portion 2with respect to rods 5 and 8 and to thereby eliminate binding ac- .tionof member 1 on the rod arms 6 providing for the necessary rigidity.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a gang edger, a pair of guide elements arranged in parallel spacedrelat on with respect to each other, and a saw-shifting member providedonone side thereof with a pair of outwardly converging arms having theiradj cent outer ends formed to embrace one of said elements, said memberbeing provided on the other side thereof with a second pair of outwardlyconverging arms having their adjacent outer ends formed to embrace theother of said elemcnts, said arms permitting movement of said memberwith respect to said elements in a direction parallel to the latter andbeing adapted and arranged for coaction with the same to hold saidmember. against rotary movement.

2. In a gam edger, a pair of guide elements arranged in parallel spacedrelat on with respect to each other, and a saw-shitting membercomprising a body portion ar ranged transversely of said elements, apair of outwardly converging arms extending from one side of said bodyportion and having their adjacent outer ends formed to provide a collarfor receiving one of said elements, and a second pair of outwardlyconverg ng arms extending from the other side of said body portion andhaving their adjacent outer ends formed to provide a col lar forreceiving the other of said elements, saidarms permitting said member toslide along said elements and acting to hold said body portion in aposition transverse to the latter.

3. In a gang edger, a pair ofguide elements arranged in parallel spacedrelation with respect to each other, and a plurality oi saw-shiftingmembers each comprising a body portion arranged transversely of saidelements, a pair of outwardly converging arms extending from one side ofsaid body p rtion and having their adjacent outer ends formed to fitloosely about one of said elements, and a second pair of outwardlyconverging arms extending from the other side of said body port-ion andhaving their adjacent outer ends formed to fit loosely about the otherof said elements, said arms coacting with said elements to hold saidbody portion against rotary movement with respect thereto, the arms ofeach of said mem- -ers bein adapted and arranged to nest with therespective arms of an adjacent member. I

a. A saw-shitting memb r of the character dc ribed comprising a bodyportion, a pair of outwardly converging arms extending f om one side ofsaid body portion and their adjacent outer ends formed to provide acollar for receiving a guiding element, a second pair of outwardlyconverging arms extending from the other side of said body portion andhaving their adjacent ends formed to provide a second collar forreceiving a second guiding element.

5. A saw-shifting member of the character described comprising a bodyportion and a four-sided frame rigidly secured thereto, opposite cornersof said frame being offset in two directions with respect to each other,said oilset opposite corners being provided with means adapted forsliding engagement with guiding means.

6. A saw-shifting member of the character described comprising a bodyportion, a pair of outwardly converging arms extending from one sidethereof and having their adjacent outer ends formed for slidingengagement with a guiding elementand a second guiding means associatedwith the body portion and exerting its guiding action at points spacedfrom the ends of the arms.

7. In a edger, a guiding element, a saw-shitting member comprising bodyportion, a plurality of arms extending outwardly from one side of thelatter and secured to the same at points on opposite sides of saidelement, said arms converging outwardly and having their outer adjacentends united and formed for sliding engagement with said element and asecond gniding means associated with the body portion and exerting itsguiding action at points spaced from the ends of the arms.

8. A saw-shifting member of the characcr described comprising a bodyportion and a supporting frame secured thereto, the

members comprising said frame forming a parallelogram and providingcollars offset in two directions with respect to each other and adaptedto receive guiding elements.

9. In a gang edger, a pair of parallel guiding elements, andsaw-shifting members slidably mounted on said elements and eachcomprising a body portion and a four-sided frame rigidly secured theretoand having opposite corners offsetin two directionswith respect to eachother and formed to provide collars fitting loosely around said elementswhereby said body portion is held in position at right angles to thelatter, the members comprising said framebeing securedto said bodyportion on. opposite sides of said elements and arranged to nest withthe re spective members of an adjacent saw-shifting member.

i0. A saW-shifiing member of the character described comprising a bodyportion, a pair of outwardly converging arms extending from one sidethereof and having means at their adjacent outer ends adapted forsliding engagement With opposed portions of a guiding element, and meansconnected to the body. portion and independeno of and spaced from saidarms and said aforementioned means and also adapted for slidingengagement with a guiding element.

In Witness whereof 1 hereto afiix my sig- 15 nature.

WILLIAM B. GRUETER.

